A SURVIVOR of a fatal double bus crash has told how he woke up in “the middle of a nightmare”.

A SURVIVOR of a fatal double bus crash has told how he woke up in “the middle of a nightmare”.

Pensioner Frank Bourne came-to trapped in the wreckage with bus driver Gordon George Hutchinson, who died in the smash near Chester-le-Street on Wednesday.

Frank, 69, lost consciousness when the 28-seater minilink he was a passenger on collided with an empty coach in North View, Newfield.

When the grandfather-of-one opened his eyes all he could see was blood pouring from his cuts, and behind him he could hear the cries of injured female passengers from among the debris.

Today, from his hospital bed where he is recovering from a fractured pelvis and other injuries, Frank has spoken of his relief to still be alive, and thanked the air medics who rescued him

The former merchant navy sailor, who travels on the bus at the same time five days a week, has also revealed the two buses which crashed passed each other almost daily.

The retired electrical engineer, of Hawthorn Terrace, Pelton Fell, Chester-le-Street, said: “I was just heading into Chester-le-Street for a pint with a mate. I was sat on the seat at the front on the other side to the driver. Everything just seemed normal.

“Then I remember waking up and there was a cloud of debris. It was like waking up from a nightmare. My only thought was just the blood. I could feel blood raining down on my face from my cuts.

“I was on the floor because I had been thrown from the side and the driver was slumped across me face down and motionless.

“You could hear voices shouting ‘we’re coming to get you’.

“I felt this hand on my shoulder and a paramedic said, ‘just take it easy, there’s been an accident, we’ll get you out as quickly as you can’. From the debris I could tell it was a horrific smash.

“I couldn’t see the driver in the other bus but I could hear people helping him.

“I didn’t feel any pain until I started moving, it was unholy, just unbearable. I started getting really concerned about my injuries. I just hoped they weren’t bad enough for me die.

“The fire brigade started cutting the bus apart but I didn’t really know what was happening, I was in a state of shock. When I saw the helicopters I knew it was really serious.

“There was a lady behind me lying face down on the floor and there was another lady on a seat. They were obviously both extremely upset.

“Then I was put in the back of the helicopter and brought here. It wasn’t until the next day I really started to think about how it happened.

“The buses always pass each other. I’ve seen the white bus go past many, many times before. Often it’s on that stretch of the road.

“I’ve had concerns about the road for a long time. There is a sharp bend down at the bottom, and if people park their cars on the road it means drivers have to move out.”

Frank is being treated in James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough after being air-lifted to Teesside by the Great North Air Ambulance. Two air ambulances and seven road ambulances were needed at the scene of the crash eyewitnesses described as “carnage”.

A 50-year-old, from Stanley, who was behind the wheel of the white Nightingale coach at the time of the crash, remains in a critical condition at Newcastle General Hospital.

But bus driver Mr Hutchinson, a 58-year-old father-of-three, of Lowther Avenue, Chester-le-Street, was pronounced dead at the scene, just after 4pm on Wednesday.

His widow and sons have said they are too upset to speak of their loss.

Frank, who is expected to remain in hospital for six weeks, said: “My thoughts are with the driver’s family. I’ve been so unlucky to be involved, but in some ways I am lucky to be OK.

“I knew him to say hello to and he was extremely friendly and nice. It is so sad he died. I knew he must have been badly hurt, because he came out of his seat.

“When I stepped on that bus I never ever thought anything like this would happen, you just don’t. I will get back on the bus again, one day. I’m just so grateful to all of the emergency services. I can’t believe the Great North Air Ambulance rely on public giving, when you’re in something like this you realise how important they are.”

It has also emerged a two-year-old girl suffered a broken leg when a police patrol car heading to the scene of the crash ploughed into the back of her mother’s car.

The police vehicle, which had its emergency lights and siren on, was heading along the B1283 in Sherburn Village near Durham when it “collided heavily” with a Vauxhall Astra.

The driver of the Astra, a 28-year-old woman from Bowburn, was treated at Durham’s University Hospital for a minor leg injury. Her two young children, a four-year-old boy and a two-year-old girl also went to hospital where it was confirmed the girl had suffered a broken leg.

Two female passengers, aged 72 and 50 and both from Newfield village, were described as walking wounded following the bus crash, in Newfield.

Anyone who saw what happened when the two buses crashed in Newfield is asked to ring police on 0345 6060 365.